Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: FrazerHenderson on June 27, 2010, 07:14:08 PM
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Set within 500 acres of superb Yorkshire countryside but a stone's throw from Wakefield and Barnsley is Britain's first and largest sculpture park showing permanent and temporary exhibitions. The sculpture park actually resides within the Historic Park of Bretton Park. I know this is primarily a gardening forum so I'll try and keep to gardening subjects - though as gardening is also about aesthetics some sculptures may seek in!
Location: M1 junction 38 between Barnsley and Wakefield. Signposted.
Type: Parkand with lakes, wildlife reserves, meadows and formal gardens.
Facilities: Galleries, shop, restaurant and numerous kiosks. Free entry but car parking £4 all day.
Information: None on gardens but plenty of books on Richard Long, Andy Goldsworthy and other land artists.
Owners/funding: Local councils & Arts Council England.
Henderson rating: 2/5 for Parkland and Gardens. 4/5 for destination (if like me you like art/sculpture).
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It's a lovely place. I worked at Bretton Hall Teacher Training College for a spell in the '60's.
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and now some work by Alec Finlay (yes, son of Ian Hamilton Finlay) whose work I admire for its playfulness and invention (I've also be fortunate to publish some of his poetry).
These are mesostic poems, as Alec says:
"Labels of mesostic poems on the names of flora. A mesostic has a name-stem and word branches, and the poems reveal the plants' nature to us in different ways".
I think you'll enjoy this small selection...
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and some more shots ...though note the sculptures start to sneak in
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one of the great things about the park is that sheep roam as they would in a picturesque manner at any grand house during the golden era of the 18th and 19th centuries. Accordingly, I was well chuffed to get this atmospheric shot as the sheep blundered past to another viewing (it only lacked a shepherd).
And finally, the final shots.
For more see www.ysp.co.uk (http://www.ysp.co.uk)
Thanks for the indulgence.
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Fascinating, thank you so much. Love the poems and the tree seat.
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It seems a very long time since Ian had a couple of pieces of sculpture in a travelling exhibition that spent some time at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park..... this may be because it was a long time ago! Early 1980s, probably!